My new squeeze 1974 el dorado. “grace”

[oldmxdog61u]

16,000 miles young. Long history. Stock bores.  Can’t wait for her to show up at her new home. 
My norge will be sad as I suspect this will be my first pick for a quick ride.  Beautiful in my eyes.

Let the constructive comments and “you must change this or else” suggestions begin!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

16,000 miles young. Long history. Stock bores.  Can�t wait for her to show up at her new home. 
My norge will be sad as I suspect this will be my first pick for a quick ride.  Beautiful in my eyes.

Let the constructive comments and �you must change this or else� suggestions begin!

I'd sure as heck be changing this! Chrome definitely won't get you home.

[RinkRat II]

 
       Yeah you'll Shirley be disappointed, don't even ride it, just ship it to me and I'll let you know what yor missing.


            CONGRATS Oldmxdog

         Paul B

[fotoguzzi]

I don't like the mirrors, you must change them.

[oldmxdog61u]

Anyone have some stock mirrors? 

I figured I would look at the bores before I spring for giardiasis set of cylinder, pistons as I’m tapped out for awhile. 

Tom Hetrick, where are you Bro?

[Dave Swanson]

Original chrome bores will flake and destroy.  It’s just  a matter of when.  And with a bike without an oil filter like the Eldo you could end up with a engine that would totally destroy itself.

[Guzzi Gal]

(too busy drooling to extend my congratulations)

[Shorty]

 

[normzone]

Ride it till it breaks, you'll be so happy you won't mind fixing it.

[oldmxdog61u]

Replacement jugs or sleeve?

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Replacement jugs or sleeve?

Gilardoni kits or have the original cylinders replated (providing the pistons are reusable).

[Cam3512]

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Loopframe_Guzzi/conversations/messages

And join this group.  No question that can't be answered.

[Yeahoo Whoyah]

I remember seeing this bike for sale recently on the SF Bay Area CL for a very tempting asking price, congratulations!  Are you in NorCal?

[blakestree]

(too busy drooling to extend my congratulations)

[Idontwantapickle]

16,000 miles young. Long history. Stock bores.  Can�t wait for her to show up at her new home. 
My norge will be sad as I suspect this will be my first pick for a quick ride.  Beautiful in my eyes.

Let the constructive comments and �you must change this or else� suggestions begin!

Very nice! Congrats!

[Dave Swanson]

Ride it till it breaks, you'll be so happy you won't mind fixing it.

Always an option of course.  But riding while the bores are flaking will result in a crankshaft regrind with corresponding oversize bearings (assuming it hasn't had a regrind already),  an oil pump that is toast, and worst of all the grinding action can wear out your camshaft, and score the camshaft bearing lands to the point that the main housing will only be able to serve as coffee table art. 

[Dharma Bum]

Nice score! Congratulations.

[twowings]

That bike is stunningly beautiful! Nice score!!! 

[bigbikerrick]

Nice bike, Bruce! Thats an interesting paint job, for sure!
Follow Charie's advice, and get the cylinders done. Gillardonis are the easiest way to go.
congratulations,
Rick.

[Perazzimx14]

Ride it till it breaks, you'll be so happy you won't mind fixing it.

And in stead of spending a $1,000 on a set of Gilardoni's now you'll get to spend about $4,000 to $6,000 totally rebuilding the entire motor. The up side is you'll get to really know the internals of  round head Guzzi.

[JJ]

My vote?  Don't change a thing...(IHMO)...and just ride it for awhile first...then you can decide. 

It looks FINE as is...mirrors and all!!! :1: :1:

[oldmxdog61u]

Wonderful inputs, and thanks for the encouragement. 
I recently went from years of sport bikes, eg, sport 1100: lemans 4, and variety of Japanese speed demons, to my norge (say ahhhh!) and now this, back where I started in the early 70’s.  As I wax more philosophical about life, my interests seem drawn to my youth. Grace scratches that itch.
I hope to spend any remaining days with the grace of God with her in my cycle life.

When I finally move on some other projects I will likely pop for the new jugs and pistons.  In the meantime, I will just do some check out rides, borescope the cylinders to observe if I am heading towards catastrophic failure and save my pennies.

Thanks for the Eldo yahoo group. Wonderful idea.
More pictures to come as I recreate my youth and the machines of my imagination. 

[bigbikerrick]

My 73 . You are going to love being a loop owner. There is a certain charm to these old bikes thats hard to describe!



 
Rick.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

When I finally move on some other projects I will likely pop for the new jugs and pistons.  In the meantime, I will just do some check out rides, borescope the cylinders to observe if I am heading towards catastrophic failure and save my pennies.

It wouldn't first hurt to check to make sure that you actually have chrome bores. Easy to do: use a "pencil magnet" inserted through the spark plug hole to touch the cylinder wall (piston needs to be down away from TDC first). No magnetic attraction = chrome, very slight = Nikasil, strong = iron liners.

I've never been able to see much useful with a borescope, just different shades of grey.

If you're going to run it "as-is" change the oil very often - I mean like every 500 miles often. Elevate the front wheel so the engine sump is sloped towards the back, so it'll drain completely. Drain the oil through something like a paint strainer or cheese-cloth and look for metallic flakes.

[oldmxdog61u]

Thanks Charlie. Appreciated.

[vintagehoarder]

That bike is BEAUTIFUL!

[oldmxdog61u]

[Kiwi_Roy]

If you're going to run it "as-is" change the oil very often - I mean like every 500 miles often. Elevate the front wheel so the engine sump is sloped towards the back, so it'll drain completely. Drain the oil through something like a paint strainer or cheese-cloth and look for metallic flakes.

This surprised me.

I know of two loops nearby still running the original bores, both owners are very in tune with mechanical stuff.

When I restored mine I figured out how to add a filter inside the sump thinking it would catch any flakes first time through but the piping was a bit complicated, it would be relatively simple to add a bypass filter in the connection between front and rear bearings, of course that wouldn't protect the front bearing from first time through.
The Gilardonis became available again so I scrapped that project but I still may add the bypass filter at some stage.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I know of two loops nearby still running the original bores, both owners are very in tune with mechanical stuff.

Loops will run well even when very "sick". Unless those two Loops are disassembled for an inspection, the owners might not know if they're knackered or not.

[oldmxdog61u]

I will at least check bores.  The new bores will be a priority.
Again, appreciate the wisdom here.
Bruce